Five Bearcats Set to Compete at NCAA Finals in Austin

CINCINNATI - Five members of the University of Cincinnati women's track & field program are set to compete in the final collegiate meet of the 2019 season this week as the Bearcats will face the best in the nation at the NCAA Championship Finals in Austin, Texas. The meet, which will be hosted by the University of Texas inside its Mike A. Myers Stadium, will run June 5-8 with the women competing Thursday (June 6) and possibly Saturday (June 8) should they qualify to the finals of their respective running events.

// WHO IS IN?
Five Bearcats are set to compete in four events this week with all seeing action Thursday. Senior Annette Echikunwoke will compete in the hammer and shot put competitions while freshman Caisja Chandler is set to race individually in the 200m. Chandler will also join Haisha Bisiolu (senior), Faith Banks (freshman) and Tiona Lattimore (junior) in the 4x100m relay. Overall, Echikunwoke has reached her sixth national meet and her third outdoors while Chandler and Banks are making their debuts. Both Bisiolu and Lattimore are returning for their second national competition and their second outdoors after helping the 4x400m relay to Eugene, Ore., two years ago.

// HOW THEY GOT THERE
All of the women competed at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Jacksonville, Fla., two weeks ago and each earned automatic berths to this week's competition. In the field, Echikunwoke needed to post a mark that ranked in the Top 12 of her throwing events and did just that as he was sixth overall in the hammer and 10th in the shot put. On the track, Chandler and the relay needed to either place in the Top 3 of their respective quarterfinal race or have one of the next three fastest times and both groups went the automatic route as Chandler was third in her heat and the relay was second in theirs.

// WATCH LIVE
Unlike most events, fans will be able to watch both track AND field events this week as ESPN will be televising and streaming all competitions. Fans can watch Echikunwoke in both her throwing competitions live on the ESPN website while tuning in Thursday night to see the relay on ESPNU and the 200m on ESPN2. Live results also will be available through FlashResults.com as well.

// THE STAKES
As with every national competition, there are big prizes to be had. Along with crowning national champions in all individual and relay events, the NCAA will honor the Top 4 team finishers with trophies as well. Back to the individual awards, those athletes that place in the Top 8 will earn the distinction of USTFCCCA All-America First Team honors while athletes placing ninth through 16th will earn USTFCCCA All-America Second Team accolades.

// MAKING HISTORY
The Bearcats heading to Austin are doing so in historical fashion this week as five women have a hand in making history. 
• Echikunwoke will compete in two events (hammer & shot put), making her the first UC woman to do so in an NCAA Outdoor Championships competition in program history and just the second woman at the national level after Jasmine Cotten took part in the heptathlon and high jump at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. 
• Chandler is the first UC freshman runner to qualify to the national outdoor finals in program history and just the third rookie to reach the meet after Emelie Larsson (2012, javelin) and Rebecka Abrahamsson (2015, triple jump). She also is the first 200m qualifier since Charlyn Ray in 2002 and just the third sprinter to qualify individually (Kenya Woodall in the 400m in 2015 and 2016).
• The 4x100m relay has reached the national meet for the first time in program history and is just the second UC relay (men and women included) to reach the national finals after the women's 4x400m (Bisiolu, Lattimore, Deanna Gesicki, Bryana Robinson) qualified in 2017.

// MAKING THEIR DEBUTS
Heading into the meet, Chandler will be the 16th Bearcats woman to compete in an individual event and will join fellow rookie Banks as the 20th and 21st different Bearcats to reach the national meet.

// REVIEW: 2018 NCAA OUTDOOR
Last year, the meet was held in Eugene, Ore., with Loretta Blaut being the lone representative of the program at the NCAA Finals. Blaut battled a tough field and intermittent downpours to finish tied for second overall in the high jump as she cleared a best of 1.82m (5-11.50) on the day. That finish was her second national runner-up finish of the year after taking the silver medal at the 2018 indoor meet.

// LAST TIME IN AUSTIN: 2004
The last time Austin played host to the NCAA Outdoor Championships was 2004 where three men represented the Bearcats. David Payne led the way as he was sixth overall in the 110m hurdles (13.53) and was joined on the All-American lists by current UC coach Chris Wineberg, who placed eighth in the decathlon (7,584 points). Kenny Wade also competed in the 200m, placing tied for 19th with a time of 20.95.

// LOOKING BACK: NCAA HISTORY
The five women representing UC this week are the second-largest group to reach the NCAA Finals after the 2017 squad was made up of six individuals. This is the fifth year in a row the Bearcats women have qualified at least one person to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with 16 total entries earned in that time. Historically, the women's program first qualified a competitor in 2002 and, between 2002 and 2014, earned 13 total entries in eight meets.

// NOTING THE BEARCATS
FABULOUS FROSH
• Caisja Chandler (ceige-uh [like the color beige]) is one of the top freshmen in program history and in the American as she recently was named the 2019 AAC Outdoor Track & Field Female Freshman of the Year, adding to the same title she earned after the 2019 AAC Indoor Championships.
• In her first outdoor season, Chandler (Cleveland, Ohio/Euclid HS) the rookie decimated the Bearcats' record book as she had a hand in five school records, including the freshman and overall marks in both the 100m and 200m; and the 4x100m relay.
• In the 100m, Chandler broke the rookie mark in her first race of the season (11.67 at the Texas Relays) before lowering her time each of her next four races, including breaking the previous record of 11.53 by running 11.48 (+0.2) in the prelims at the AAC meet and then placing third overall with a lowered time of 11.30 (+2.9) in the final. She twice ran 11.43 at the NCAA East Preliminary meet and finished 15th overall, missing Austin by three places.
• In the 200m, she opened the year with the #6 time at UC (23.56) before dropping that to 23.18 at the Tennessee Relays (4/12) to move up to #2 all-time at UC and break the school record. She lowered it further in the final of the AAC meet, running 23.15 (+1.3) to finish as the runner-up. Then, in Jacksonville, she went to work once again and broke the overall and freshman records, first running 23.04 in the first round before running 22.97 in the quarterfinals to reach Austin. With that run, she became the first woman in UC history to break the 23-second mark in the event.
• In the relays, Chandler led off the team's record run (44.27) to take second place at the AAC meet before anchoring the 4x400m relay to second place with the #10 in UC history (3:38.86), bringing her total points scored to 18.0 at her first outdoor conference meet. She also ran the lead leg of the 4x100m in Jacksonville as UC posted a school-record time of 43.81 to earn an automatic berth to Austin with the school's first sub-44 time in the event.
• NCAA FINALS: 4x100m Semifinal (Thursday, 7:02pm), 200m Semifinal (Thursday, 9:14pm)

THROWING HER WEIGHTS AROUND
• Annette Echikunwoke (eh-chih-cuh-wook-ee) is no stranger to the NCAA meet as she is appearing in her fifth national competition and will throw for the fifth and sixth times. Echikunwoke (Sr., Pickerington, Ohio/North HS) is a four-time USTFCCCA All-America First Team honoree and the 2017 NCAA Indoor Weight Throw Champion as well. While she is no stranger to national meet, this is her first since the 2018 indoor season after redshirting last year. 
• Echikunwoke has qualified in a pair of events for the first time in her career as she finished sixth in the East in the hammer (62.87m/206-03) and 10th in the shot put (16.33m/53-07.00). She has previously qualified nationally in both events with each coming in separate years, including the hammer in 2016 (8th place) and the shot put in 2017 (21st place).
• She continues to be one of the best hammer throwers around as she broke the conference's overall, conference meet and UC school record with a heave of 64.30m (214-04) at the AAC meet, bringing her collegiate career improvement to 58' 8" from her first mark in 2015 of 47.46m (155-08)
• Echikunwoke scored a total of 20 points at the AAC Championships as she took runner-up honors in the shot put and was seventh in the discus.
• She recorded her best shot put mark of the year of 16.55m (54-04.75) at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational in Cincinnati (4/6) with her lifetime best of 16.79m (55-01.00) coming in 2017, a mark that broke the UC record.
• NCAA FINALS: Hammer FINAL (Thursday, 4:30pm) & Shot Put FINAL (Thursday, 9:10pm)

GOING RELAY FAST
• The relay team consists of a mix of youth and experience, featuring senior Bisiolu, junior Tiona Lattimore and freshmen Faith Banks and Chandler.
• The quartet (Chandler to Bisiolu to Banks to Lattimore) ran four races together this year and finished second in the first three while posting all-time Top 10 marks in program history, including running 44.27 at the AAC Championships to break the school record. The fourth race saw the team run 43.81 to post the ninth-best time in the East while breaking the school record as well.
• The group is no stranger to racing together as they also ran the 4x200m at the Tennessee Relays (4/13), posting a school-record time of 1:34.38 to win the event, while also running the 4x400m relay together once, posting the #10 time in program history of 3:38.86 at the AAC Championships. Their 4x100m time in Jacksonville also is a school record and the first sub-44 time recorded in program history.
• Cincinnati is one of three teams from the American in the race (UCF & Houston), tying with the ACC for the third-most teams in the event. The SEC leads the way with five squads and the Big 12 is second with four.
• NCAA FINALS: 4x100m Relay Semifinal (Thursday, 7:02pm)

// UP NEXT
The NCAA Championship Finals mark the end of the 2019 collegiate season. The Bearcats will return to action this fall when the 2019 cross country season gets underway.

Bearcats Event Schedule
Thursday, June 6
4:30 pm • Hammer Throw (Echikunwoke) • FINAL
7:02 pm • 4x100m Relay (Chandler, Bisiolu, Banks, Lattimore) • Semifinal
9:10 pm • Shot Put (Echikunwoke) • FINAL
9:14 pm • 200m Dash (Chandler) • Semifinal

Saturday, June 8
* contingent upon qualifying from Thursday's semifinals
5:32 pm • 4x100m Relay (Chandler, Bisiolu, Banks, Lattimore) • FINA
7:07 pm • 200m Dash (Chandler) • FINAL
** All times listed local to site (Central Time)